If you were recently involved in an accident in St. Louis, MO, you may be dealing with physical and emotional injuries, as well as financial hardship. You may have medical bills, damaged property, and be unable to work, as well as other unexpected costs. If another person caused your slip and fall, car accident, or other type of accident, you can seek compensation through a personal injury claim.
There are two key types of compensation you can recover in a personal injury case: economic damages and non-economic damages. Economic damages, as the name suggests, are the financial consequences you have incurred or will incur—such as medical bills. Non-economic damages are the other, often intangible, costs of the accident.
Understanding Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages are the subjective costs of the accident, and they are often emotional or psychological.
The following are non-economic damages:
- Pain and suffering. The physical suffering and related emotional distress caused by your injuries.
- Emotional anguish. The mental pain and suffering caused by the trauma of the accident or injuries.
- Loss of Consortium. Your family’s loss of love, affection, and companionship as a result of your injuries.
- Loss of Quality of Life. Reduced enjoyment of the hobbies and activities one once enjoyed, and in life in general.
- Disfigurement. Permanent changes to your appearance and their attendant impacts.
If you suffered non-economic damages, they could be a substantial amount of your financial recovery. Your attorney will review your case and assess the extent of your non-economic damages.
The Role of Damages in a Personal Injury Case
Damages are a crucial element of your personal injury case. To succeed in a personal injury case, you must prove that the at-fault party was negligent, which means they failed to act reasonably under the circumstances.
To prove that the at-fault party was negligent, you must establish the following four elements:
- The at-fault party owed you a duty of care.
- The at-fault party breached the duty of care.
- You suffered damages.
- Your damages were caused by the at-fault party’s actions.
Thus, you must prove that you suffered damages to win your case. An experienced St. Louis personal injury attorney will help you build your case to establish each of these elements.
Available Damages in Missouri Personal Injury Cases
Missouri residents can recover economic damages and non-economic damages in a personal injury case.
Economic Damages
Economic damages relate to the actual monetary costs of an accident and include the following:
- Past and future medical bills
- Vehicle repair costs
- Property damage
- Transportation costs
- Lost wages
- Out-of-pocket expenses
- Decreased earning potential
Medical bills, receipts, pay stubs, property repair estimates, photos, videos, surveillance footage, and more are often used to prove the value of your economic damages.
Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages are the emotional and psychological costs of an accident and include:
- Pain and suffering
- Mental anguish
- Disfigurement
- Disability
- Loss of consortium
- Loss of quality of life
Further, in rare cases, personal injury plaintiffs may be able to recover punitive damages if the at-fault party’s actions were especially egregious.
Calculating Non-Economic Damages
Economic damages are usually straightforward to calculate, as they are based on specific transactions. Non-economic damages are less straightforward to calculate. It’s difficult to put a price tag on a victim’s subjective experience.
Personal injury lawyers use a number of formulas to help calculate non-economic damages. For example, they may calculate your non-economic damages by multiplying your economic damages by two or three.
The following factors may impact your non-economic damages:
- The type of accident
- The circumstances of the accident
- The extent and type of your injuries
- The expected future consequences of your injuries
- The insurance policy limits
- Whether you were partly at fault in the accident
Your attorney will review your case in light of these factors and calculate the potential value of your non-economic damages.
Caps on Non-Economic Damages in Missouri
Missouri does not limit non-economic damages in most personal injury cases. However, there are limits on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases.
In medical malpractice cases, non-economic damages for non-catastrophic injuries are capped at $400,000 and for catastrophic injuries at $700,000. These amounts are adjusted by 1.7% each year.
Contact a St. Louis Personal Injury Attorney to Help You Recover Non-Economic Damages
If you were injured in an accident in St. Louis due to someone else’s negligence, you could receive compensation for your economic and non-economic damages. Navigating the personal injury claim process can be difficult, but an experienced St. Louis personal injury lawyer can handle most of the hard work for you, contact us today. Hiring an attorney from Roach Law Car Accident Lawyers may also protect you from bad-faith bargaining tactics by the insurance company and could lead to a greater settlement amount, call us at (636) 519-0085 to schedule your first free consultation.
A skilled St. Louis personal injury lawyer can review your personal injury case and assess all of your economic damages and non-economic damages.
